His Majesty King Abdullah on Tuesday called on the government and other parties concerned with finding a solution to road accidents to work seriously to make Jordan's roads safer for passengers and pedestrians.

Chairing a meeting dedicated to tackling the phenomenon, the King told officials, media people and representatives of civil society organisations that although he had issued directives to concerned agencies in May last year to draft a national strategy to curb accidents, the number has been on the rise, growing in 2007 by 13.4 per cent, compared to 2006.

His Majesty called for enforcing traffic regulations firmly without discrimination or favouritism and with complete transparency.

The King added that complaints regarding traffic tickets and penalties are left to the judiciary to decide on.

King Abdullah announced that the army-run Royal Medical Services would soon be supplied with five advanced rescue helicopters, as a start, to improve their capacity to save lives, especially when dealing with accidents in remote areas.

In the aftermath of a tragic accident on the Amman-Jerash highway on January 26, the King addressed a letter to Prime Minister Nader Dahabi calling for changing the “culture and behaviour related to traffic and use of roads”, a matter, His Majesty said, that necessitates an overall revision in order to produce a feasible nationwide strategy to address the problem, which kills a child every 35 hours in Jordan.

During the meeting, Dahabi said that in response to the Royal letter, officials and experts are now revisiting the strategy, which the Interior Ministry drafted last year.

The government is also working to improve the methods and procedures of training and licensing drivers.

He said the new strategy is likely to be out in a month, to include programmes and plans that can be translated into facts on the ground.